Jaylen Brown has done some special things throughout his second year, and he is at the top of the list of Celtics who have elevated their respective games even further in the playoffs.

WALTHAM — When the greatest player in the world threatened to take over TD Garden Tuesday night it was Jaylen Brown who was eager to step right into his path and meet force with force.

LeBron James did what most everyone thought he would after a middling Game 1 performance and came out possessed in the first quarter of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference finals. He hit shots from everywhere. He scored 21 points.

Yet at the end of 12 minutes, the Cleveland Cavaliers led by just four, thanks in large part to 14 points from a 21-year-old willing to challenge the game’s proverbial king. Three quarters later, Brown had a team-high 23 points, and the Celtics had a 2-0 series lead after a 107-94 victory.

Game 3 is Saturday night in Cleveland.

“I was just trying to match his punches,” Brown said following Thursday’s practice. “He came out [shooting], and sometimes you can get discouraged when you see that level of greatness. As long as you keep fighting, and keep throwing punches, in the end we stood on top.”

Why didn’t Brown get discouraged by greatness the way so many in the presence of James have in playoffs past?

“Why should I?” he responded. “The stage is set for all of us to do something spectacular. LeBron has been to the Finals [seven] straight times. He’s a great player. But we want to win. We want to be the team that does win and get [past James] to the Finals.

“We’ve got a bunch of young guys trying to make a name for themselves in this league. Why not come out and play hard? Everybody’s saying we’re playing with house money anyway. So why not come out with the energy we need and try to do something special?”

Brown has done some special things throughout his second year. And he is at the top of the list of Celtics who have elevated their respective games even further in the playoffs. He scored 30 points in the Game 1 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, dropped 34 on the road when the Celtics nearly rallied from down 20 in the third quarter to win Game 4 in Milwaukee, returned from a hamstring scare to score 24 points in the Game 5 knockout of the Philadelphia 76ers, and made it three straight playoff games with 23 or more points on Tuesday.

“The more experiences you go through,” Brown said, “the more time you spend out on the floor, the more situations you see, the more confident I’ve gotten. And I’m a pretty confident guy. But I feel like during this postseason my confidence has reached a new ceiling.

“It’s just going up, and going up as we speak. So I don’t feel like there is anything I can’t do on the floor. It’s just a matter of doing it.”

And when Brown does do it, he lets the opponent know about it.

“When you can back it up you can talk as much crap as you want,” teammate Marcus Smart laughed. ”[Brown says] things like, ‘You can’t guard me,’ to the flex and the poses, to calling people ‘little’ when he posts them up.

“When a guy is going at you, and he’s backing it up, it kind of gets into your head. Then it’s, ‘You know, I don’t know if I can really guard this guy.’ That’s a mental part of the game that a lot of the great players understand.”

While it may be a touch premature to declare Brown a “great player” in the league, he is using the playoff stage to show that he may be well on his way.

“Jaylen’s fearless,” Celtics coach Brad Stevens said. “Jaylen’s tough. Jaylen continuously gets better. He wants to get better. I think sometimes because of his athleticism and his youth — he’s got an unbelievable ability to get in and make plays that others can’t make — then we don’t talk enough about how competitive he is.”

That competitiveness was on display for all to see in the first quarter of Game 2 when James went for the early kill and Brown was right there to stare him down.

“It’s just my aggression to hit first rather than get hit first,” Brown said. “The coaching staff has definitely relayed that message that we can’t come out and get punched in the mouth.

“I definitely want to be one of the players to spark our team and take the fight to them.”

Why should I?” he responded. “The stage is set for all of us to do something spectacular. LeBron has been to the Finals [seven] straight times. He’s a great player. But we want to win. We want to be the team that does win and get [past James] to the Finals.

“We’ve got a bunch of young guys trying to make a name for themselves in this league. Why not come out and play hard? Everybody’s saying we’re playing with house money anyway. So why not come out with the energy we need and try to do something special?”

Why not indeed! This is the kind of attitude, attention to detail, and performance that would garner one a team captaincy on another team. JB is emerging as the face of the franchise. Not the coach, who is dominant in his position but does not score points. Not the johnny come lately superstar Kyrie, even tho he is a superstar. Not Big Al who is our ultimate glue guy on the big side. Not Mahcus who is the glue guy on the small side. And not Paul Pierce redux either, although Tatum is going to be a star in his own right. No, for me it's Downtown Jaylen Brown. While he continues to improve and develop his physical tool set, it's his mental agility that is most impressive.

And if he isn't? Well that's the beauty of Brad's positionless basketball. Every one can bring the ball up and initiate the offense. Everyone is accountable on defense. And everyone is a team captain on a team with no captains.

He is my favorite too, incredible how complete his game got so fast and now doing it on this stage vs GOAT. As he goes, the team goes and a great refreshing articulate kid, poised and wise beyond his years. This is karma, having the 2 baby J’s makes up for the loss of Len Bias.

Jaylen has shot 33 for 78 from three point land during the 2018 playoffs - a .423% clip, not too shabby for a guy who plays great defense and can drive to the basket like a locomotive. Honestly, I would take him over Steph today. Hands down.

I have loved this kid since the first summer league game I watched him in before he got hurt. His athleticism is off the charts. But it is his attitude that grabbed me. Right after the season last year, he went right into Danny's office and told him he wanted to go to the summer league last year. As it turned out, he was so far above the young players that they ended up sitting him alot of the time. But, while he was sitting, he was helping Tatum and the other rookies on the team.

He came into camp ready for whatever challenge Brad had for him. Defense? You want me to play defense? Okay, I will do that. Work on my shooting? Okay, you don't have to worry about that, I will work on my shooting. Then the awful accident happened with Gordon and he took on another role, offensive threat.

Whatever they have asked of him, he has done it willingly. Off the court he is a bright star, doing things that a 20 year old just wouldn't do. Harvard? You want me to talk? Okay, I will. Represent the team with the union? Good, I will do that.

The sky is the limit with this kid. He will become better than we could have ever hoped for. I take exception to those who continually rave about Tatum (not because I think he will not become what everyone thinks) but because Jaylen gets lost in the crowd.

He deserves all the accolades we can give him. Without him in most of these games, with his fast start, the Celtics could have found themselves 10 down instead of up. That gets lost because Tatum and Rozier do so well in the 4th quarter. But, without his offense and defense in these playoffs, the Celtics would have been in a different position.

Okay, I have gone on and on, I just hope the kid gets his due when the season is looked back on.

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I have loved this kid since the first summer league game I watched him in before he got hurt. His athleticism is off the charts. But it is his attitude that grabbed me. Right after the season last year, he went right into Danny's office and told him he wanted to go to the summer league last year. As it turned out, he was so far above the young players that they ended up sitting him alot of the time. But, while he was sitting, he was helping Tatum and the other rookies on the team.

He came into camp ready for whatever challenge Brad had for him. Defense? You want me to play defense? Okay, I will do that. Work on my shooting? Okay, you don't have to worry about that, I will work on my shooting. Then the awful accident happened with Gordon and he took on another role, offensive threat.

Whatever they have asked of him, he has done it willingly. Off the court he is a bright star, doing things that a 20 year old just wouldn't do. Harvard? You want me to talk? Okay, I will. Represent the team with the union? Good, I will do that.

The sky is the limit with this kid. He will become better than we could have ever hoped for. I take exception to those who continually rave about Tatum (not because I think he will not become what everyone thinks) but because Jaylen gets lost in the crowd.

He deserves all the accolades we can give him. Without him in most of these games, with his fast start, the Celtics could have found themselves 10 down instead of up. That gets lost because Tatum and Rozier do so well in the 4th quarter. But, without his offense and defense in these playoffs, the Celtics would have been in a different position.

Okay, I have gone on and on, I just hope the kid gets his due when the season is looked back on.

If anyone wants to gush about Jayson too, I’m fine with that, there’s enough love for both of them....

RosalieTCeltics wrote:I have loved this kid since the first summer league game I watched him in before he got hurt. His athleticism is off the charts. But it is his attitude that grabbed me. Right after the season last year, he went right into Danny's office and told him he wanted to go to the summer league last year. As it turned out, he was so far above the young players that they ended up sitting him alot of the time. But, while he was sitting, he was helping Tatum and the other rookies on the team.

He came into camp ready for whatever challenge Brad had for him. Defense? You want me to play defense? Okay, I will do that. Work on my shooting? Okay, you don't have to worry about that, I will work on my shooting. Then the awful accident happened with Gordon and he took on another role, offensive threat.

Whatever they have asked of him, he has done it willingly. Off the court he is a bright star, doing things that a 20 year old just wouldn't do. Harvard? You want me to talk? Okay, I will. Represent the team with the union? Good, I will do that.

The sky is the limit with this kid. He will become better than we could have ever hoped for. I take exception to those who continually rave about Tatum (not because I think he will not become what everyone thinks) but because Jaylen gets lost in the crowd.

He deserves all the accolades we can give him. Without him in most of these games, with his fast start, the Celtics could have found themselves 10 down instead of up. That gets lost because Tatum and Rozier do so well in the 4th quarter. But, without his offense and defense in these playoffs, the Celtics would have been in a different position.

Okay, I have gone on and on, I just hope the kid gets his due when the season is looked back on.

Rosalie,

Huge +1. HUGE.

Danny and Brad have been drafting for ambition and character since Smart. That has been a winning recipe.

i have loved every interview, every update this kid has given since he had been drafted. He has had bad games, he has had, and still has, weaknesses, but his head is screwed on so right I have always had confidence he'd become great.

My friend, a GSW fan (not surprising out here), said he was was a reach at 3 and was overrated and I said "wait for it, he's going to be a perennial all-star in a few years." These playoffs are his coming out party.

Tatum's favorite player growing up was Kobe, but his game is more like Pierce's. Jaylen's game, if he was more scoring-centric, would be more like Kobe's. Think about that. In just a very few years we could have a Paul Pierce and a Kobe Bryant.

Bob your friend is like a few posters here, at the time of the draft there were many here for Buddy Hield and remember some poster here saying great just what we need another athlete that can’t shoot. I even remember Danny being asked about Jaylens shooting and he said we like his shot and feel it can be developed. Remarkable how some players can develop that shot and some can’t and how fast the 2 J’s have both developed that 3 ball. I’m waiting for both the 2 J’s to go for 30 in the same game and feeling it will happen soon during this playoffs.

cowens/oldschool wrote:Bob your friend is like a few posters here, at the time of the draft there were many here for Buddy Hield and remember some poster here saying great just what we need another athlete that can’t shoot. I even remember Danny being asked about Jaylens shooting and he said we like his shot and feel it can be developed. Remarkable how some players can develop that shot and some can’t and how fast the 2 J’s have both developed that 3 ball. I’m waiting for both the 2 J’s to go for 30 in the same game and feeling it will happen soon during this playoffs.

Cow,

I know I harp a lot on 'shooting mechanics' but that's what Danny's focus was on. Did Jaylen have good mechanics or not? I cannot think of a single player whose shooting mechanics were bad who developed later into a good shooter.

I vividly remember Jaylen’s rookie year when he would get the ball and try to drive to the cup with 2-3 defenders meeting him there and stripping the ball. It happened so many times that several on this board would verbose over how he needs to be more patient.Well, when’s the last time we’ve seen him do that? It’s virtually disappeared because of the hard work he’s obviously put in. That’s just one of the areas of his game he has improved in a relatively short time.The kid’s gonna be a star and its going to happen fast.I’m so glad Danny did his homework(as always) and surprised everyone when he picked Jaylen 3rd. Hahaha on the naysayers.Jaylen and Jayson and we’re just getting Started! Go C’s!!

Well the true greats always respond after a bad performance, we’re gonna find out real soon what he’s made of, still a young player, but thrust into a bigger role against the GOAT. He has to score at least 23 for us to have a chance to win....Go Jaylen!!!